It's Been a While
by jayfeather86
Summary: Law and Zoro find each other again after two years of separation. [Not exactly Christmas-themed, but for the holidays.]


_It's Been a While_

It had been an hour, so where was the damned idiot? Zoro did a quick sweep of the deck, and was frustrated to see only Luffy and Usopp, the latter regaling the former with (obviously false) tales of his heroic bravery in the battles at Punk Hazard. Zoro rolled his eyes and walked away, still agitated and unsatisfied with the fruitlessness of his search.

They were still in winter island territory, so it was still snowing hard and visibility was low, meaning that they had to proceed slowly and with caution to avoid hitting any ice floes that would rip into the hull of the ship. It was for this reason that Zoro had to walk carefully as he was crossing the deck, cautious of the slick patches of ice that coat different sections of the normally soft grassy deck. He sighs as he reaches the door, his breath billowing in a silver cloud in front of him.

_ Dammit, Trafalgar…_ he thinks to himself as he opens the door and steps inside, shrugging off his coat and dropping it near the table. It is much warmer inside, and Zoro flexes his numb fingers to warm them up, trying to get some feeling back into them. _Where the hell are you?_

They had left the island of Punk Hazard about an hour ago, and Zoro had not seen anything of Law since then. Which was making him somewhat nervous. They had not seen each other in two years; didn't he want to be together with Zoro again? The thought made his chest tighten uncomfortably. What if Law didn't want to be with him anymore?

_He probably doesn't even remember what we did_, Zoro chided himself with a mental snort. _Why the hell am I even thinking about this?_ But he couldn't ignore the flutter he felt in his chest when Law's name was mentioned, or how his breath caught in his throat when he saw the doctor again after two years of separation. He'd gotten even hotter, or so it seemed to Zoro, and he quite often found himself imagining the slender, muscled body beneath that long black coat, and how he wished he could run his hands through that sleek black hair, feeling those soft lips over his…

Zoro found himself feeling hot despite having his coat off now, and he felt a heat rise to his cheeks that had nothing to do with the warm air coming from the furnace. He placed a hand on one of his sword hilts, which were still freezing cold, to reassure himself before shaking head to clear it and starting to walk down the quiet hallway.

It was quiet except for the soft creaking of the ship's hull since most of the crew was either outside or taking a short nap before their usual victory celebration, and there seemed to be no one there but Zoro. The swordsman tried to keep his footsteps silent, but the soles of his boots seemed to insist on squeaking on the wood floor, still wet from the snow on the deck outside. Zoro rolled his eyes at his own luck, which, now that he thought about it, was not all that great.

The sound of hooves clacking on the floor drew Zoro from his thoughts just then, and he glanced over to the right to see Chopper heading to the medical bay with a stack of papers in his hooves. He stopped to let the little reindeer through, and Chopper smiled up at him.

"Hi, Zoro!" he said cheerfully, disappearing into his office for a few moments to drop off the stack of papers he had been toting.

"Hi, Chopper," Zoro replied with a nod, glancing around the hallway for any sign of the one he was looking for. He returned his attention to Chopper when he found none, but he couldn't help the flicker of worried agitation that licked at his belly like a smoldering fire. "Have you seen Trafalgar?" He hoped the question sounded casual enough, betraying none of the turmoil he felt going on inside himself at the moment.

"No, I haven't seen him since we got on the ship, actually," the reindeer said after a moment, shaking his head and rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder what he's doing."

"That was my question," Zoro said with a snort, maintaining his gruff demeanor so not to cause undue suspicion. "I just wanna make sure he's not sabotaging our ship or anything." Not that he ever would. Zoro knew that Law wasn't like that, but he had to play dumb for now.

"Oh…" Chopper just looked at him for a few moments, unsettled by the thought, as given away by the nervous twiddling of his hooves. "Well, I don't think he would do something like that. Luffy trusts him, so he has to be a good guy, right?"

"Well, it doesn't hurt to check," Zoro said, keeping his expression stoic as he fingers one of his sword hilts. "I'll keep looking, then." He was somewhat disappointed that no one had seen Law at all since they had left Punk Hazard, but he was more worried about where Law might be. It was disturbing him that the doctor was nowhere to be seen even after they had left, and any number of possibilities were springing up in Zoro's head, each worse than the last.

"Good luck," Chopper called to Zoro as he walked away, but the swordsman didn't even seem to hear the reindeer's words, caught up in his own tempestuous thoughts.

A thousand thoughts were going through Zoro's head at that moment, and he could barely concentrate on one before another suddenly popped into his mental thinkspace. Was Law hurt? Was he sick? What if he was dying and no one knew it? He knew that Law had had a bit of a struggle against Vergo, judging from all the blood (which concerned him more than he'd like to admit), and he was starting to wonder if his injuries were worse than they appeared. Was that why he wasn't showing himself to the rest of the crew?

Zoro didn't know anything for sure, but he was determined to find out. Maybe he wasn't sure if Law still remembered him and what they had from two years ago, but he would just have to leave it to luck. It was what he'd always done in his battles, and he was still there now, wasn't he? So the strategy couldn't be all bad.

He sighed, wishing he knew where to start looking. Law had to be somewhere on the ship, didn't he? Well, there was the possibility that he could use his powers to warp somewhere else, Zoro supposed, but even if he did, where would he go? _What the hell am I gonna do? _Zoro asked himself silently, stopping in the middle of the hallway and staring down at the floor.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zoro happened to notice that the door to one of the spare rooms near him was slightly ajar. That never happened, he thought, eyes narrowing as he walked a little closer to the door. Hardly anyone ever came around this room; it was just used to store extra supplies and various things they didn't use often.

Slowly Zoro reached out to open the door more fully, his curiosity finally getting the better of him. As soon as the door was open far enough for him to step inside, a quiet sniffle caught his attention, and he froze.

"Go away.." A quiet, somewhat shaky voice ordered, trying to sound commanding, but the effect was ruined by the tremble in his words.

Zoro's eyes widened as the words reach his ears, and his heart skipped a beat despite himself. "Law?" he asked quietly, looking around for the source of the sound even though he would know that voice anywhere. "Is that you?" He could see the familiar outline of a person sitting against the wall on his right, and he slowly made his way over there, being cautious not to move to quickly so not to startle Law.

"What do you want?" Law asked, his voice cold but still somewhat shaky, as he discreetly reached up to wipe his eyes with his sleeve. It was clear to Zoro that he'd been crying, but it was the what for that worried him far more.

Zoro sat down against the wall next to Law, surprising the other pirate by putting an arm around his shoulders and gently pulling him closer. "What's wrong?" he asked softly, his voice carrying an uncharacteristic gentleness that surprised Law even more.

"W-what?" was Law's stuttered response. He was shocked that Zoro, of all people, would care enough to come find him after all this. He was acutely conscious of the warmth of the first mate's body seeping through the layers of fabric covering him and permeating his chilly skin. It made him almost shiver at the contact, and he pushed to the back of his mind the sudden thought that he wouldn't mind feeling more of that warmth. _..Does he remember?_

"You can tell me what's wrong," Zoro prompted gently. He slowly reached out to take Law's tattooed hand in his own, feeling butterflies in his stomach at the contact. Law's slender hands are cold, he noticed, and he took it upon himself to warm them. "It's okay. You're safe now."

Law was silent for a long few moments, still shocked that it was Zoro of all people who came and found him and was now _in close bodily proximity to him._ Not that he minded at all, of course. In fact, he was rather pink in the face just from having Zoro so close, and his heart was fluttering in his chest like a trapped bird. "Nothing's wrong," he said finally, not daring to look up and see Zoro's expression for fear of blushing even harder. _Not when you're here,_ he wanted to add, but his tongue was too tied to say anything else. One part of his mind was very grateful for that, but another was screeching at him to say a thousand things more.

"Are you sure?" Zoro asked, gently tilting Law's head up so he can look at him. Zoro felt heat rise to his cheeks just looking at that beautiful face, Law's storm-grey eyes drawing him in just as powerfully as they had two years ago. The shadows beneath his eyes were still the same, as were the two little gold hoops in each ear that Zoro had thought looked so perfect on him. His gaze was still indecipherable, as well, betraying nothing of his thoughts except surprise and mild fascination. This was part of what had drawn Zoro to Law in the first place, the air of mystery around him, and that small little smirk that was ever-present on his intelligent face… It was like he was amused by some joke that only he knew about, and Zoro wanted to be in on it.

"I.. I'm okay," Law said after a pause, finally finding his voice as Zoro's eyes stared into his. It was one of the rare times in his life when he was completely speechless, at a loss for what to do as Zoro's hand softly cupped his cheek, and the swordsman gently wiped away the tear tracks on his cheek with the rough pad of his thumb.

That is when, Zoro decided, that caution would be thrown to the wind. Seeing the look in those eyes was just too much for him, for his heart, practically bursting with suppressed emotion, and for his soul, starved for too long of the affection he so desperately craved but stubbornly denied himself for fear of the pain that came with it. But now, he had learned, that there was pain in everything. You just had to find the ones worth suffering for.

Zoro slowly pulled Law closer with one arm and, meeting no resistance, softly kissed his cheek, closing his eyes and kissing the tears away. His movements were so gentle, like he was handling a glass doll instead of another person, that Law knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Zoro remembered everything they had shared. It had been two years, but Zoro's touch told him that he remembered all of it like it was yesterday.

"It's been a while," Law said once Zoro pulled back, looking at him as if waiting for a response. His fingers are still interlaced with Zoro's, and he smiles a little and squeezes Zoro's hand. "But now…" He moved even closer to Zoro to kiss him deeply, both feeling the rush of warmth that came from being together again. He pulled back after a few minutes to let them both breathe, smiling. "…it doesn't seem so long."

Zoro smiled. "I know," he said, wrapping his arms around Law and pulling him close so that the warmth of their bodies helped to warm them both. "I'm glad to have you back." He leaned in to capture his lover's lips in another deep kiss, to which Law responds wholeheartedly.

"So am I," Law murmurs against Zoro's lips as they kiss, too wrapped up in pure bliss to pay attention to anything else. "Two years is a long time."

There was a pause, and Zoro smiled into the kiss. "Not that long."


End file.
